A Sally Dress for a Special Girl

This is a Sally dress I made for someone very special. J is a friend from our church in California, who from our first meeting when she was in first grade, has always been extremely friendly, helpful, caring, trustworthy, responsible….and the list goes on and on. This past summer, she was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis and has had quite a journey, which has included hospitalization and ultimately surgery. Thankfully she has adjusted well and has overcome many challenges in this process and seems as upbeat as ever.

This fabric was a gift from my dad, one of a few different prints he sent me awhile back. The first time I saw it, I immediately thought of J and of her love for vibrant colors and groovy prints. It had her name written all over it. I never knew what to make with it until I fell in love with the Sally dress pattern. Who doesn’t love big pockets?!

I started making this Sally Dress as a destashing project right before we moved to Nashville (and before any of her symptoms had manifested). Obviously I never finished it before moving and have had it sitting around now for a few months. The other day, while thinking of J, I realized that I really needed to finish it up and get it sent off to her.

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about this special girl as she gears up for another surgery (the second of three). I’ve been thinking about how much I love her and miss her and how I am deeply proud of her courage as well as her generosity during this new challenge she faces. Rather than just going through this process, trying to make it day by day, wondering why it happened to her and the normal things we all might wonder, she instead decided to start making bracelets (while in the hospital!) and selling them to benefit the Chrohn’s and Colitis Foundation. She sold them to family and friends and ended up raising $500! Truly a remarkable young woman. I love her and miss her. And I hope that when she receives this dress in the mail next week sometime, that she knows how truly special she is and how much we all love her.

If you would like to learn more about Chrohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis, please visit the website www.ccfa.org. And even better, you can donate to support new research that will help people like J!